The project 
is based on the idea of obtaining textile fibres from hemp agricultural by-products.
In recent years, the cultivation of industrial (non-textile) hemp has increased dramatically in Europe, mainly due to its usefulness for the extraction of oils and other high-value applications for human consumption and for its medical applications, mainly CBD. The shives and fibres are by-products, the latter with too much lignin for textiles.
On the other hand, it may also be of interest to cultivate textile hemp to obtain fibres, although in this case, the economic potential of the exploitation of the seeds is lost. Thus, due to a dual use of hemp, once the constituents of the seeds have been extracted, the residue that remains can be treated to obtain textile fibres. It is a fibre that has not been treated in the field (retted) and that has a lot of non-cellulosic matter that prevents its spinning. The process already developed by the research group to obtain yarns from hemp by-products consists of mechanical, chemical and/or chemical-enzymatic processes that prepare the fibre for subsequent blending with other fibres. Yarns with a 40 tex count have been obtained with 20/80, 40/60 and 50/50 hemp/cotton blends with Open-end Rotor spinning.
